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Saturday, 26 June 2010

On My Wishlist #2 - June 26th 2010.

On My Wishlist is a great meme that's hosted at Book Chick City! Here I'll list books that I really want to read, but haven't gotten around to buying yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. Let me know what you think of my choices in comments. If you've already read any of the books, I'd love to know what you thought!

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First up this week is a book I'm really excited to read. By Midnight sounds great, and I love the cover too. This one has also got a pretty cool website, where you can check out the book trailer and find out more about the book.

By Midnight: A Ravenwood Mystery by Mia James.Published: July 15th 2010 by Gollancz.
Hardcover, 352 pages.Genre: Urban Fantasy. Target Age Group: Young Adult.

April Dunne is not impressed. She's had to move from Edinburgh to Highgate, London, with her parents. She's left her friends - and her entire life - behind. She has to start at a new school and, worst of all, now she's stuck in a creepy old dump of a house which doesn't even have proper mobile phone reception. Ravenwood, her new school, is a prestigious academy for gifted (financially or academically) students - and the only place her parents could find her a place, in the middle of term, in the middle of London, on incredibly short notice. So she's stuck with the super-rich, and the super-smart . . . and trying to fit in is when the rest of the students seem to be more glamorous, smarter, or more talented than she is, is more than tough. It's intimidating and isolating, even when she finds a friend in the conspiracy-theorist Caro Jackson - and perhaps finds something more than friendship in the gorgeous, mysterious Gabriel Swift. But there's more going on at Ravenwood than meets the eye. Practical jokes on new students are normal, but when Gabriel saves her from . . . something . . . . in the Highgate Cemetery, and then she discovers that a murder took place, just yards away from where she had been standing, April has to wonder if something more sinister is going on. . . . and whether or not she's going to live through it . . .

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I'm a big fan of historical fiction, and while I haven't read anything by Alison Weir before, I've always been interested in the story of Anne Boleyn, so this seems like a good place to start. I love the new cover art for this one too!

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir.

Published: June 3rd 2010 by Vintage Books. (first published September 1st 2009).

Paperback, 288 pages.Genre: Historical Fiction.

The imprisonment and execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, in May 1536 was unprecedented in the annals of English history. It was sensational in its day, and has exerted endless fascination over the minds of historians, novelists, dramatists, poets, artists and film-makers ever since. Anne was imprisoned in the Tower of London on 2 May 1536, and tried and found guilty of high treason on 15 May. Her supposed crimes included adultery with five men, one her own brother, and plotting the King's death. She was executed on 19 May 1536. Mystery surrounds the circumstances leading up to her arrest. Was it Henry VIII who, estranged from Anne, instructed Master Secretary Thomas Cromwell to fabricate evidence to get rid of her so that he could marry Jane Seymour? Or did Cromwell, for reasons of his own, construct a case against Anne and her faction, and then present compelling evidence before the King? Following the coronation of her daughter Elizabeth I as queen, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation. Over the centuries, Anne has inspired many artistic and cultural works and, as a result, has remained ever-present in England's popular memory. In her impressive new book, Alison Weir has woven a detailed and intricate portrait of the last days of one of the most influential and important figures in English history.

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This one comes highly recommended by Christina at Confessions of a Book Addict, and I can't wait to read it. Sounds like the perfect coming of age/summer read!

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han.Published: June 3rd 2010 by Puffin (first published 2009).
Paperback, 288 pages.Genre: Realistic fiction.Target Age Group: Young Adult.

Some summers are just destined to be pretty
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer -- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

10 comments
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Oh my god, I saw the Anne Boleyn book and my first thought was "oh, they're making Ugly Betty books?", which means it's way too early for me to attempt reading anything by looking at a cover first. Either way, the books look great. I just got The Summer I Turned Pretty myself and I can't wait to read it!